Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas was one Republican calling for accord.

Photo: Andrew D. Brosig, Associated Press

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas was one Republican calling for...

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Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., left, speaks to reporters about the fiscal cliff negotiations at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Hopes for avoiding the "fiscal cliff" that threatens the U.S. economy fell Friday after fighting among congressional Republicans cast doubt on whether any deal reached with President Barack Obama could win approval ahead of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts kick in Jan. 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, joined by House Majority...

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In this Nov. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama acknowledges House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio while speaking to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. A dreaded package of tax increases and deep spending cuts to domestic and defense programs loomed over the economy in 2012 as Congress and the White House negotiated the budgetary steps needed to avoid it. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Photo: Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press

In this Nov. 16, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama...

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Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., gestures with his fist during a news conference at the state capitol in Hartford, Conn., Monday, Dec. 10, 2012. Lieberman is kicking off a farewell tour with words of thanks for the people of Connecticut and warnings about dysfunction in Washington. Lieberman is retiring at the end of the session on Jan. 3 after 24 years in the Senate. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

With little more than a week for lawmakers to avert huge tax increases and spending cuts, attention is turning from the gridlocked House to the Senate, where some Republicans on Sunday endorsed President Obama's call for a partial deal to insulate most Americans from the tax increases but defer a resolution on spending.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., implored Senate leaders to reach an accommodation with Obama when Congress returns on Thursday, even if that means taxes would go up for those with high incomes but spending cuts would be put off.

Hutchison, appearing on the CBS program "Face the Nation," said the tax cuts signed into law by President George W. Bush should be extended "at a reasonable salary level."

"We can't let taxes go up on working people in this country," she said, backing Obama's calls for a stripped-down temporary measure. "It is going to be a patch because in four days we can't solve everything."

The failed attempt on Thursday by the House speaker, John Boehner, to attract enough Republican support for legislation that would have prevented tax increases on income below $1 million left little chance for a "grand bargain" on deficit reduction.

It also shifted the action to the Senate as the last hope to stop more than a half trillion dollars in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts from kicking in on Jan. 1. The president urged senators to take up legislation extending the Bush-era tax cuts on income under $250,000 and preventing the expiration of unemployment benefits, while delaying the defense and domestic spending cuts, to allow negotiations on a deficit deal to continue.

The hope is that the less polarized Senate will be different from the House. It is run by Democrats and includes several Republicans who are openly backing a deal.

"The president's statement is right," Isakson said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "No one wants taxes to go up on the middle class. I don't want them to go up on anybody, but I'm not in the majority in the United States Senate, and he's the president of the United States.

"The truth of the matter is, if we do fall off the cliff after the president is inaugurated, he'll come back, propose just what he proposed yesterday in leaving Washington, and we'll end up adopting it," Isakson continued. "But why should we put the markets in such turmoil? ... Why not go ahead and act now?"

Democratic leaders say they will move forward on legislation this week only if Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, can assure them that it will not be filibustered, and that once it is passed, Boehner will bring it to a vote in the House.

McConnell has played the role of congressional deal closer before. But in this case, neither he nor the junior members of his leadership have given any indication that they will intervene.